Practical tool
Hospitality Systems Decision Map
List your systems, and against each write the decision it improves and the person who owns that decision. The rows you cannot complete are the project.
Free to use and free to copy. No email required, no download, no score.
What this helps you decide
Whether a system earns its cost, whether a new one is justified, and which layers have no accountable owner.
What it cannot determine
It cannot compare named platforms or recommend a stack. The right system depends on the decision, the rhythm and the owner, which differ in every operation — which is the point of the map rather than a limitation of it.
Evidence you will need
- The current system list, with annual cost including modules
- Contract end dates and notice periods
- Who currently uses each system, and how often
- What each system's output actually changes
- Current data-export terms for each contract
Five questions before any shortlist
An afternoon of work that eliminates most candidate purchases before a demo is booked.
- Which decision does this improve?
- Who owns that decision?
- On what rhythm is it made — daily, weekly, per booking, annually?
- What is that decision made from today?
- What changes in behaviour if we buy it?
The layers to map
Nine layers, four or five owners in a typical operation. The overlap is fine; the unassigned gaps are the finding.
- PMS — the operational record
- CRS and booking engine — what is sellable, at what rate, through which path
- RMS — pricing and restriction decisions
- Channel manager and distribution — mix, parity, commission load
- Market and rate intelligence — the comparative view
- CRM and loyalty — guest relationship and repeat behaviour
- Reservations, table and short-stay platforms — the conversion surface
- Analytics and reporting — most likely to exist in triplicate
- Automation and AI workflows — where unclear ownership compounds fastest
The disappearance test
For each system ask: if this vanished on Monday, what would stop working, who would notice first, and what would we do instead?
- “Everything would stop” — a genuine dependency. Check exit terms and data portability now, not at renewal.
- “We would go back to a spreadsheet” — a convenience. It may be worth keeping, but price it as one.
- “Honestly, not much” — you have found something to cancel.
Two questions for every vendor
- What happens to our data if we leave, and in what format?
- What does year three cost, including the modules we will inevitably need?
Next step
Complete the map for your current stack before the next renewal date. Where a row has no owner, assigning one is usually a larger performance gain than replacing the system.
If the answers point somewhere uncomfortable and you would rather not work through it alone, request a diagnostic. The tool is useful whether or not you do — how this is researched and published is set out in the Editorial Standard.